It further suggested that “richer” mobile formats, such as audio and video, resulted in greater return on investment at the top of the funnel.

By accounting for the number of people affected in terms of brand consideration across mobile ad formats, and factoring in “the cost of buying the specific media”, the research yielded several powerful findings.

“Mobile audio was about 30% more efficient than the campaign average (which included all media, including television) for driving consideration for Allstate,” the study said.

“Mobile video was 85% more efficient than the campaign average, given its very high effectiveness and lower cost compared with television.”

Turning to the bottom of the funnel, or driving sales, it was found that “targeted mobile banner units emerged as more efficient – by 12%, on average – compared with the campaign average”.

“In this case, the analysis took into account the total sales that were attributed to each medium and the cost of buying the media,” the study continued.

“By contrast, mobile video appeared less efficient compared with the campaign average (index of 76), and mobile audio was close to the average (index of 98).”

This study formed part of the MMA’s on-going Smart Cross-Marketing Effectiveness Research (SmoX) program, which has involved numerous case studies looking at individual brands.

As well as Allstate, the brands that have participated in this program have included AT&T, Mastercard, Coca-Cola, Walmart and Unilever.